How to Eat in a Restaurant

The Spanish do a remarkable amount of eating out, even now during “la crisis,” so it’s important to know what’s expected of you when you go to a restaurant. Here are some things I’ve noticed

Seat yourself. If you wait for someone to do it for you, you’ll be standing there until closing.

You usually have to fight to get the waiter’s attention. It’s perfectly acceptable to make aggressive eye contact, wave your hand, and say “Oiga!” in a loud voice. (It’s the polite form of saying, “Hey!”) It isn’t always that the waiters are intentionally rude (though sometimes that’s exactly what it is - customer service in Spain doesn’t exist). It’s that the waiter is probably the only one in the restaurant. He busses tables, writes the bill freehand, and then makes change. If you’re lucky, there’s someone else to cook. If you’re not, then be prepared to wait. You’re usually served in the order you got there, so be patient if the place is really packed. Or find somewhere else to eat.

Use restraint regarding your beverage.There’s no complimentary glass of water with your meal, so what you order is what you get. Period. No free refills. No top-offs. No nothing. Not even at McDonalds. So pace yourself, or you’re going to be really thirsty by the time you finish half of your food. If you do want water, order “un vaso de agua” or a glass of water instead of a bottle. It’s bad manners to drink out of a bottle in Spain anyway and the water they put in the glass is usually from the mountains and tastes the same as bottled anyway. It’s also a lot cheaper. 

Don’t tip. There’s no tipping in Spain. There’s also no sales tax, so things really are the price listed. Also, don’t try to pay with card. First of all, your bank will charge you exorbitant fees for using your credit card out of country or with a different currency. Second, most places don’t have credit card scanners. Third, if they do, you have to purchase up to a certain amount in order to use them. Spain is a cash-based country, so you’d be better off slapping down your two-Euro coin than anything else. That is, if the Euro still exists by the time you get here.